Anastasia Maria Holszanska (1424–1462) was a niece of the Polish queen Sophia of Halshany, and the first wife of Vlad III Dracula.
Biography[]
Anastasia was born in 1424, the niece of Sophia of Halshany who had married Władysław II Jagiełło, first Grand Duke of Lithuania and later King of Poland.
Anastasia was given as a bride to strengthened ties between the Polish–Lithuanian court and Wallachia. Her marriage to Vlad III was negotiated as part of a wider strategy by Polish and Hungarian magnates to buttress anti-Ottoman defences and to insert influence into Wallachian succession disputes.
As Consort, Anastasia resided primarily at Poenari Castle, a mountain stronghold overlooking the Argeș River, reconstructed and fortified under Vlad’s orders. While her political influence remains uncertain, several court documents (some now lost but cited in 17th-century chronicles) suggest she acted as intermediary in communications between Vlad and Polish or Hungarian diplomats.
In 1462, during the Ottoman invasion of Wallachia (1462), Ottoman and boyar forces loyal to Radu the Fair besieged Poenari Castle. When the fortress was about to fall, Anastasia, aware of Radu the Fair's approach, unwilling to be captured and supplied with false information of her husband's death, leapt from the high cliffs into the Argeș River below.
Her death profoundly affected Vlad.
| Princess Consort of Wallachia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Cneajna of Moldavia |
c. 1459 – 1462 | Succeeded by: Justina Szilágyi |